explorer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 17, 2019 11:17 pm I joke with Cambodians a lot, and we normally have a lot of fun. But something which might be funny in one situation, might not be funny in another.

Recently I spent a fair bit of time with two fun loving sisters.

One of the girls asked me a question, where the answer was too difficult to explain.

So I said ពីព្រោះ (pee proo) which means because.

After that, when someone would ask a question, she would say ពីព្រោះ (pee proo).

After that happened a few times, someone asked me a question. I said បីព្រោះ (bai proo).

ពីរ (pee) is 2 (the រ is silent). បី (bai) is 3.

So instead of ពីព្រោះ (pee proo) 2 ព្រោះ (2 proo), it was 3 ព្រោះ (3 proo) (bai proo).

She had a good laugh. After that when someone asked a question she would say 3 ព្រោះ (3 proo) (bai proo).

As I said, in a different situation, it might not be funny.

explorer wrote: ↑Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:24 am When you joke around, normally around 95% of people may think it is funny, and maybe 5% may not get the joke.

A common Khmer saying is: ចេះ មក ពី រៀន មាន មក ពី រក

Which means: To know how to comes from learning. To have comes from earning.

I sometimes say: ចេះ មក ពី រៀន មិន ចេះ មក ពី ខ្ជិល រៀន

Which means: To know how to comes from learning. To not know how to comes from being lazy to learn.

Occasionally, Cambodians with a sense of humour may say: ចេះ មក ពី រៀន មាន មក ពី បោក

Which means: To know how to comes from learning. To have comes from scamming.

Or: ចេះ មក ពី រៀន មាន មក ពី លួច

Which means: To know how to comes from learning. To have comes from stealing.

Yes, Cambodians know there is a fair bit of scamming and stealing in Cambodia, and some will joke about it.

One I made up, and often tell students: ឆ្លាត មក ពី ខំ រៀន ល្ងង់ មក ពី ខ្ជិល រៀន

Which means: To be intelligent comes from putting a lot of effort into learning. To be dumb comes from being lazy to learn.

On this forum, I often write the sound of Khmer words with English equivalent. But there are some words where you cant get the sound accurate with English letters.

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Mon Nov 18, 2019 5:34 pm Mean Dtuk Mean Trey, Mean Loy Mean Srey - Have water Have fish, Have money Have girls